


a work in progress

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Age Difference, F/M, Pre-Relationship, Rare Pair, Season One missing scene.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 21:24:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9845516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: He can't be at work and he's not good at home doing nothing so Joe sits in with Team Flash.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For the one million words Doctor Who challenge. Prompt: just do what I do: hold tight and pretend it's a plan.

When Joe walks into the cortex, Caitlin's first instinct is to ask him, "What are you doing here?" 

It's her first instinct, it's also the one that she goes with and she only realises how it sounds when Joe's jaw drops and Cisco chuckles almost nervously. "Geez, Caitlin, give the guy a break," he says but she doesn't miss how he inches his chair ever so slightly away from hers. "It's not like we have locks on the doors." 

"Though it's not a bad idea." Doctor Wells speaks so softly that Caitlin's fairly sure he didn't mean for Joe to hear him, but Joe's nostrils flare ever so slightly and that's enough for Caitlin to know that he did. He glares at Wells, then turns his gaze back to Caitlin, who's speaking rapidly to cover up the awkward silence. 

"I just mean that you were only released from the hospital this morning after breathing in cyanide gas," she reminds him. His lips twist and he looks down at the reminder of just how close to death he'd come. "You should be at home. Resting." 

Joe shoves his hands into his coat pockets and shrugs his shoulders as he rocks forward on the balls of his feet. She's suddenly reminded of Ronnie and the time she'd baked cookies for the STAR Labs summer barbecue, had gone for a shower and returned to find half the cookies gone and a guilty looking Ronnie staring at her with crumbs around his lips and a half eaten cookie in his hand. They'd laughed about it - the boy with his hand in the cookie jar almost literally - once she'd got over the urge to kill him. 

She shakes her head to clear the memory, concentrate on Joe's voice. "I don't do so well with being sick," he admits and he sounds just as grudging as Ronnie had when he'd admitted he shouldn't have eaten those cookies. "Barry said I could come here, see what it's like for him when he's out on the street." 

Cisco nods. "Take the mystery out of it and you mightn't worry so much." The way he says it makes Caitlin think that he's said it before, maybe to Barry, and from the way Joe looks at him, Caitlin would bet he thinks the same. The way that Cisco turns to his console and begins frantically pressing buttons only adds to Caitlin's suspicion. 

"Yeah." Joe says the word slowly, carefully. When he turns back to Caitlin, he shrugs again. "Iris is out with Eddie," he says. "So I figured I'd take him up on it. Besides, I have the best doctor in Central City on hand if things go south, right?" 

He never looks up, but Cisco chuckles. "Smoooooth." 

Caitlin, meanwhile, is narrowing her eye at Joe but she knows her glare is nowhere near as strong as usual, not when her lips are twitching like they are. "I can see where Barry got his charm from," she mutters as she moves past Joe to take her own seat and she tries not to notice how a grin takes over his face, tries not to notice how a blush coats hers. 

A couple of hours later, he's not smiling anymore. Not when he's heard Barry fighting another meta human, seen his vital signs fluctuating frantically. By the time the battle is won and the meta is in the pipeline and Wells and Barry and Cisco are conducting a postmortem on the whole affair, Joe's face is ashy and his hand shakes as he holds it up to his lips. 

Caitlin produces a chair and he sinks down into it, blinking with surprise as she hands him a candy bar. "Sugar might help with the shock," she tells him kindly and he lifts one eyebrow. 

"If it's good enough for the aftermath of a Dementor attack," he says and a second eyebrow joins the first at her surprised look. "I raised Barry," he says flatly. "You think I don't know my Hogwarts from my Durmstrang?" 

There's nothing she can say to that so she just holds up her hands. 

He opens the candy, breaks off a piece and hands her the rest. "Share?" 

She accepts it gratefully - there's a reason she has a stash in her desk drawer after all - and passes the rest back to him. 

"Is it like this all the time?" he asks after a moment and she briefly considers what to tell him before deciding on the truth. 

"Pretty much." He doesn't look relieved to hear it. "A lot of trial and error, a lot of making it up as we go along..." It's her turn to shrug. "Kind of a live action science experiment." 

He frowns. "That's my kid," he says. "He's out there, running around all over town..." He stops, runs his hand over his face. "I thought this would help me, that if I knew what it was like..." He stares across the room at Barry, who's laughing at something Cisco's just said. "Turns out ignorance really is bliss." 

"If it helps," she suggests, " do what I do: hold tight and pretend it's a plan." 

His eyes narrow. "How's that working out for you?" He hands her the candy like he's making a point. 

It's a good point. "Work in progress," she admits. "But then, aren't we all?"

Joe grimaces. "Doublespeak," he says. "I knew you were a Ravenclaw." She blinks in suprise and he nods. "Barry's Gryffindor, Cisco's Hufflepuff, in case you were wondering." 

"Don't let Cisco hear you say that." She laughs as she pictures his expression, but stops as she realises she can't remember the last time she laughed in this place. 

Swallowing hard, she breaks off another square of candy, hands back the last one to him. Their eyes meet and their fingers touch and just for a moment, there's a spark of something between them, something that Caitlin hasn't felt in far too long. 

When Joe's eyes darken, she knows he's felt it too. 

Then from across the room, Barry's voice says Joe's name and the spell is broken. 

For now, but she finds herself hoping not forever, just like she finds herself thinking that it doesn't look like Barry is the only work in progress around here. 

Somehow, that thought's not as scary as it should be.


End file.
